Mold unit



March 24, 1953 H, MILLER 2,632,225

MOLD UNIT Filed June 18, 1949 IN VEN TOR. CHARLES HAzEL/us MIL/ 5R ATTORNEY Patented Mar. 24, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MOLD UNIT Y Charles Hazelius Miller, Rochester, N. Y.

Application June 18, 1949, Serial No. 99,893

4 Claims.' (Cl. 25-121) My invention relates to a mold unit and more particularly to a mold unit suitable for the production of castings for use in the making of combustion chambers, particularly combustion chambers of the type employed in connection with oil burners.

Heretofore it has been the practice for the dealer to obtain combustion chambers for use in connection with the oil burners which he sells from a manufacturer of such combustion chambers. This either requires the dealer to maintain a stock usually of several sizes of combustion chambers or else delays may be occasioned in installing the oil burner due to the necessity of transporting the nished combustion chamber from the manufacturer thereof to the dealer. Moreover, such combustion chambers are usually cast of material of a relatively brittle character and chipping and breakage does occur in transit.

An object of my invention is to provide a simple mold unit which the dealer in oil burners may use to cast the parts of combustion chambers so that hecan within a short time and at little eX- pense make his own combustion chambers as they are needed.

Another object of my invention is to provide a unitary mold unit in which the numerous runners required to make up a complete combustion chamber are cast simultaneously; the lengths thereof may be readily varied to suit the conditions recuired; and the dealer is free to make up combustion chambers in his spare time and is completely independent of the manufacturer of combustion chambers.

My invention further contemplates a mold unit comprising a frame member in which a plurality of cells are mounted and clamped together, each cell being separate and distinct from the others but al1 of the cells being clamped together in a compact assembly for enabling all the cells to be poured simultaneously, the cells being provided with means enabling the runner castings to be separated from the cell molds with ease and the cell units being so supported with respect to each other that the cells are accurately cast to the dimensions required in order to build up a combustion chamber as required by the particular installation.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be set forth more particularly in the claims and will be apparent from the following descrip- 2 A tion, when taken in connection with the accom'- panying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is van isometric view showing a combustion chamber the runners of which have been made in the mold unit of my invention;

Fig. 2 is an isometric View showing the series of mold cells mounted in assembled relation for the reception of the casting material;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing a part of a mold unit and illustrating how the cells are nested together and supported by the supporting frame and by contact with each other; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view taken through the bottom of the mold unit and illustrating how the mold unit may be changed for making runners of different lengths.

In Fig. 1, I have shown a combustion chamber, the runners II of which have been made by the mold unit of my invention. The View also shows a front panel I2 employed with the run'- ners II to make up the complete combustion chamber. The manner in which the front panel is made constitutes no part of my present invention and need not be more particularly described.

As shown in Fig. 1, the combustion chamber except for that portion occupied by the front pane1 l2, is approximately cylindrical in crosssection. Because the runners are essentially parallelopipeds, in order to make a satisfactory assembly, the individual panels are each made with a convex side edge I3 and a concave side edge I4. After the front panel and runners'are assembled as shown in Fig. 1, the joints between the front paneland the runners and between adjacent runners are bonded together with cement so as to strengthen the assembly and produce a smoothly contoured interior and exterior for the combustion chamber.

Each of the mold cells of the mold unit of my invention comprises a hollow structure having an open top and open bottom, as indicated at I6. The cells have straight side walls I1 and end Walls I8 and I9 forming a structure whichis generally a parallelopiped. Preferably the mold cells are made of relatively heavy gauge sheet metal which is somewhat resilient in character for a purpose which will later appear` The end wall I8 is curved on substantially the arc of a circle to form a convex side edge for the finished runner as indicated at I3.

The end walls I 9 of the cells are separate cover members. Each cover has a concave shape, as indicated at 2| and its side edges are provided with flanges 22'. By reason of the resiliency of the metal of which the cell is made, by pressing on the side walls l1 they may be pressed together slightly so that the anges 22 of the end wall or cover may be slipped over the side edges of the side walls l1 so as to lock the removable end wall I9 or cover in position.

There is thus provided a mold cell which while generally a parallelopiped has concave and convex end walls so, as illustrated in Fig. 1, the side edges of adjacent panels may mate with each other so as to form an approximate cylinder when the parts are assembled in the relation shown in that gure.

When runner castings are to be made the end Wall covers I9 are assembled with respect tothe remainder of the mold cells and the cells are stacked preferably in two tiers of l'ive cr six cells each, it usually being the practice to provide ten or twelve runners for each combustion chamber. A divider 26 having suitable apertures 2l is mounted between the tiers of mold cells and a pair pair of support walls 28 are provided with suitable apertures 29 for the purpose of providing a frame structure for retaining the mold cells in assembled relation as shown. Tie rods 3l extend through the apertures, the ends of which are vprovided with wing nuts 32 for the purpose of `holding the frame assembly, together with the divider 26, in assembled relation.

. As shown in the drawings, the mold cells are assembled in their supporting frame structure in such manner that the convex end wall of one mold cell is next adjacent to the concave or removable end wall of the adjacent mold cell. That is, the mold cells are alternated across each tier. With this arrangement of the parts. the flanges 22 of the removable end wall or cover i9 lie in the interstices between the convex end walls of the adjacent mold cells and the adjacent walls 26 and 29 of the frame member, as indicated at 33. Thus, the mold cells may be stacked or arranged in contiguous relationship so as to occulJBr a minimum of space. However, more important from the standpoint of producing runners which are accurate as to dimensions, are the facts that the alternate arrangement of the mold cells, as above described, allows the side walls I'l of adjacent mold cells to lie flat- Wise against each other, as shown at 34, to aid in supporting the mold cells against bulging during pouring and subsequent hardening.

It will further be observed that the removable end walls are held in position at least partly by the Walls 26, 28 and 29 of the supporting frame, since thesey walls bear against the outer side edges of the end walls, as indicated at 36. Thus, upon clamping the frame structure together by the wing nuts, the covers for the cell units are rigidly held in position so that each cell unit is a rigid self-contained structure.

Prior to assembling the parts, all exposed surfaces are preferably provided with a thin coating of a lubricating oil. The mold cells are assembled; the frame structure applied; and the mold cells are then filled by pouring with suitable casting material such, for example, as mortar or a concrete with relatively fine aggregate.

After the casting material has been poured,

the pouring being accomplished with the upper ends of the mold cells extending upward, the

top surface is smoothed oif with a trowel and the castings allowed to harden for approximately twenty-four hours. Thereafter, the supporting frame is removed and the end covers removed from the individual mold cells. The side walls ll' of the individual mold cells, if required, may be conveniently sprung apart to release the runner casting.

The mold cells are made in lengths which are the maximum the dealer may desire for building a combustion chamber. Preferably the mold cells for use with the mold unit of my invention are made up in sixteen inch lengths. When the dealer desires a fteen inch combustion chamber, it is merely necessary to insert a blocl: 3T of wood an inch high in the bottom of each of the mold cells, shaped in accordance with the cross-section of the mold cell so as to reduce the overall effective height of the mold cells to fteen inches. Similarly, as indicated by the dotted line 38, if desired, two filler blocks 31 may be employed so as to reduce the effective overall height of the mold cells to fourteen inches. Thus, with the mold unit of my invention, various lengths of runner castings may be made and the alteration of the mold'cells to accomplish this can be quickly and easily accomplished.

While I have shown and described the preferred form of my invention, it will be apparent that various changes and modifications may be made therein, particularly in the form and relation of parts, without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

l. A mold unit comprising a plurality 0f individual cells for the reception of the casting maf' terial, a frame structure for holding the cells in assembled relation with respect to each other. each cell being approximately rectangular in cross-section and having a removable cover wall to facilitate removal of the casting, said cover walls being at least partly held in position on the cells by the frame structure during pouring and hardening of the casting material, each cell having straight side walls, and end walls one of which is concave and the other of which is Convex, one of said end walls being the removable cover wall and having flanges adapted to resiliently engage the outer side edges of the side walls.

2. A mold unit comprising a plurality of individual cells for the reception of the castingmaterial, a frame structure for holding the cells in assembled relation with respect to each other, each cell being approximately rectangular` in cross-section and having a removable cover wall to facilitate removal of the casting1 said cover walls being at least partly held in position O11 the cells by the frame structure during pouring and hardening of the casting material, each cell having straight side walls, and end walls one of which is concave and the other of which is COH- vex, one of said end walls being the removable cover wall and having anges adapted to resiliently engage the outer side edges or" the side walls, said cells being assembled in the frame structure with the side walls of adjacent Cells parallel to and in supporting relation with each other.

3. A molding unit comprising a plurality of sheet metal cells, each cell having straight sides and one integral end wall the other end of the cell being open and providing free end edges, a cover for said open end having iianges, said free end edges being spring like in character so that they may be pressed together to accommodate said flanges externally thereof and spread apart to release the casting, a frame for holding the cells in assembled relation, said cells being assembled with the side walls of adjacent cells parallel, contguous and in supporting relation to each other.

4. A molding uni-t as in claim 3 in which one end Wall is `concave and the other end Wall is convex and the cells are assembled with the concave and convex end walls of adjacent cells alternating so that said flanges are accommodated in the interstices formed between adjacent concave and convex end Walls so that the side Walls of adjacent cells may lie atwise against each other and support each other during the pouring and hardening of the material.

CHARLES HAZELIUS MILLER.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

